Gooberdust

Hail, hail, Gooberdust,
What the heck do we care?
What the heck do we care?

Heil, heil, Gooberdust!

The Word "Retarded"

The word "retarded" is in the news today. Sarah Palin, that old champion for political correctness (?), was taking Rahm Emanuel seriously to task for using the word "retarded." He even used it in regards to us liberals, that we're "retarded."

So who better to defend us than that old champion for liberals (?), Sarah Palin? Maybe she thought he was implying that her son was a liberal!

Actually her motive was not to defend us, but to take umbrage at the word "retarded" being used in any sense. This is an issue for her, it seems, because her son is [whatever the current word is, cognitively and developmentally challenged in special and privileged ways.]

It makes me wonder how she was able to be so upset, unless she thinks in the same way, i.e., using the same old words we always used as kids. This was a normal word to use at one time. And just because someone somewhere decided that it's no longer politically correct to use it in any context ... hmm, I don't remember voting on that. We used to say it about people all the time, like our little brother, who distinctly was not literally [very special and privileged], but we might be upset and like to attribute to him many of those [special] qualities. Yes, brother, you were very [special.]

I personally think the whole thing is overboard. It's especially overboard when you have her, who happens to have a son who is [special], that she would have some sort of special say over a word that she herself does not use in relation to her son! If she doesn't use the word in relation to her son -- and if she doesn't even think of the word in relation to her son, then what dibs does she have to be a qualified spokesperson on the issue? Think of that. She's claiming a certain qualification to speak to the issue based on something. But since she doesn't think that way about her son, what is it based on?

And she's always mentioning her kid. She's exploited that poor kid practically to death. If she didn't have him I don't know what her meal ticket would be next.

It was especially transparent when Rush Limbaugh used the same word repeatedly, and instead of Sarah criticizing him, I believe she challenged him to a marshmallow duel. Something very soft and minimal. But Rahm, she wanted him fired, drawn, quartered, and fed to the wolves. Which wouldn't be a bad idea, but for other reasons.

They're all [differently privileged and special]. And that goes especially for Sarah Palin. She's very, very [special and differently privileged.] Ha ha.

I have a Black Eyed Peas song I'd like to send as a long distance dedication to her.

The Word "H--O"

In the title I mean the word "Ho." As in "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas." Or it's more lamentable meaning these days (why people want to ruin a perfectly good word, I don't know), as shorthand speak for whore. That's awful.

I bring it up to say there's a Ho Bot at Twitter. If you use the word "ho" in a tweet, someone has a thing (or maybe they're doing it manually -- I doubt it), that collects those. I did it one day. I can't remember what I innocently put. It had nothing to do with being vulgar. Maybe I said gung ho or something. And this bot gave me a mention for that.

So I put some hyphens in the title here so I wouldn't end up there again. Not that I'm trying to avoid it. But there's no reason to provoke them.

There was some other word bot that collected a tweet by me one day. I can't think of what that was though.

The New York Times

I read something the other day about the New York Times will be charging by the word.

I seem to remember that's the way Charles Dickens was paid. Which makes it hard to read Dickens' books, because it takes him four or five pages to describe every little thing.

I remember some of my own writing habits in school and college. They would say it needs to be 500 words or 3000 words, and you sit there wasting more time counting the words than anything else. (Now we have computers that tell how many words you've got, so it's easier.) I could write on and on about any subject, like right here, just blather on, clack it out, throw in lots and lots of qualifiers, all that. I used to enjoy seeing an occasional parody of student writing, like in National Lampoon.

But let's say the Times does charge by the word. What's to prevent them from giving us a bunch of small words and cheating us out of a better value with bigger words? They might have an article that quotes a guy who stutters all the time. And he'll have a quote with a lot of repeated words and we'll be paying extra right there. If I'm paying by the word, I want them to use a lot of very big words and leave out the extraneous words in a sentence that I can guess at. So fragments would be best. Like this, "If paying by word, I want lot big words, no extraneous, can guess'm." See what I did with that last word, just combine the "m" from "them" and so it's only one word but everyone knows what it means.

Why Take A Shower?

Why should I take a shower every day? It's a nasty habit and comes around too fast.

My dad told me they used to take a bath once a week and that was good enough. But I think it was the Depression and the whole town had to share a big horse tank or something. Or maybe there wasn't enough water to go around. I don't remember him saying why they did it that way. I know he always associated one day with "bath day."

But now everyday's "bath day," which is tedious. And washing your hair day. My scalp feels itchy and gnarly until I get it done. Plus it helps put everything in place that gets bejaggled around on your pillow at night.

I have a recording somewhere. The guy's name is something like Dennis Liendl-Rast. Let me Google that real fast. Hmm, it turned out to be David Steindl-Rast, but I obviously had some elements of his name right. Pretty good, huh? On this recording, one thing I remember is a discussion he had about "taking" a shower or bath. The language of "taking" is a very -- what would be the word? -- something like being apart from but agressive toward, like imperialism. It's definitely not an integral type of word. So I get to think about that every time I "take a shower." Ha ha.

We grow up using the words we use and it's tough to change because of every little nuance. But the point I think is a great one. "Taking" is the language of an ego detached. Which is exactly what I am, right or wrong.

Stationery Vs. Stationary

In one of my articles today, I used the word "stationary" a couple times, as relating to something that doesn't move. I always have to run it through my mental warehouse up there to make sure it's not supposed to be "stationery" with an E. I think, No, stationery with an E is for writing paper.

Fortunately for me, since I have enough mental clutter, I don't have any kind of spelling trick that helps me remember this. I just remember it as a thing should be remembered. So I got it right. Then I was at an event, a place today, and there was a table that had a basket marked, "Stationary," meaning the writing paper in the basket. I looked at it and thought, hmmm, did I get it wrong?

But no, I knew I had it right ... although there was that five second period of doubt.

Here's two words that shouldn't be confused, and I hope I have them right without looking them up. "Collectable" and "collectible." I drive by antique stores, flea markets, and see that they have "collectables" for sale and I think that can't be right. Something in my mind says it's the "IBLE" that's the noun and the "ABLE" that's the adjective.

So if I see just the opposite, "collectibles for sale" I think, yep, they got it right.

Maybe use The Rule of The Dogfood. It's Kibbles and Bits, not Kabbles and Bats.